The Devil's Pool - Softcover

Sand, George

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1536920754 ISBN 13: 9781536920758

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016

Synopsis

George Sand's superb novella based upon her upbringing in the French countryside is published afresh in this presentable edition.

We observe the lives of Pere Maurice and his young son-in-law Germain, who is considering finding a new woman to marry. He is presently a single father, his deceased wife having bore three children prior to expiring. His father is enthusiastic about arranging a meeting between a wealthy friend of his - Pere Leonard - whose daughter, Catherine Guerin, is likewise widowed.

Despite a distinct possibility the union will be a success, and his father's enthusiasm that the three young children will receive a good upbringing under the care of Catherine, Germain is unenthusiastic about marrying again. Persuaded by his father, who insists that he and his wife cannot manage three children in their home, Germain is given a young and attractive grey mare as well as selection of freshly caught game to present as a dowry to Pere Leonard.

An accurate account of rural life in France, The Devil's Pool - also known by its French title La Mare au Diable, draws deeply upon the experiences of author George Sand.

About this title

Review

'Early deaths and endemic poverty are treated here as part of natural life; and natural life, with its indomitable, instinctive force for continuity, is what she is celebrating...it seems to me a book...worth reading more than once. --Victoria Glendinning

From the Author

To an extent, Sand is writing a fable or parable, to convey the essential goodness and fulfilment that can illuminate such apparently narrow lives, in contract to the ‘fake enlightenment’ of her sophisticated readers. Though she does underline the ugly side of customs such as the arranged marriage, with its potential for exploitation and humiliation, she deliberately highlights the poetic and pure side of rural life, as opposed to squalor and suffering. Early deaths and endemic poverty are treated here as part of natural life; and natural life, with its indomitable, instinctive force for continuity, is what she is celebrating. There is a powerful undercurrent of regret for the disappearance of age-old country customs in her native region; what we would now call the social anthropologist in here is well to the fore in the account of traditional marriage games, tacked on as a coda. She wants rural life to go on in the old predestined way, but with some better understanding of the value of that life.
These seem conservative, even sentimental attitudes for a liberated free-thinking, free-loving, progressive woman like Sand. But the story must also be read as she intended, as an act if empathy with her characters, and a riposte to intellectual arrogance. In any case, we all perversely love what we have chosen to lose – in her case, the simple life. The story was written, originally for magazine publication, at top speed. The unresolved ambivalences and contradictions make The Devil’s pool, as its author knew, an imperfect work of art. It is all the more intriguing for being so. For all its simple charm, it seems to me a book for grown-ups, and worth reading more than once.

Edition details

• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1536920754
• ISBN 13: 9781536920758
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 82